Mary Bethune Alternative Center held a Black History Program on February 29. The program featured students reading poetry, performing dances, and reading inspirational works about the lives and contributions of famous African-Americans. The keynote address was delivered by Clarence Magee, President of the Forest County NAACP.

Students from the Mary Bethune Alternative Center traveled to Deer Island in Biloxi and participated in the Marine Debris Program. Marine Debris is a program sponsored by USM Marine Life designed to increase and improve awareness of how human behaviors affect marine life and our ecosystem. High Schools from all over the state participate in the program. Deer Island is a cleanup site used for Marine Debris program. Mr. Darnell Payton, Mary Bethune science teacher, took 14 students and 4 chaperones on the trip. Mary Bethune collected 821.58 lbs of debris in 2 hours setting a NEW record! Prior to Mary Bethune’s record, the most ever collected by any high school was 395 lbs!